Water Re-use Project at Northumbrian Water Site
Waterwhelm is currently running a pilot plant for water re-use at a Northumbrian Water wastewater treatment site. This pilot plant is aimed at using low grade waste heat typically available in large quantities at wastewater treatment plants with anaerobic digestion.
Research has shown that around 55% of operational expenditure for reverse osmosis is due to electrical consumption (Danfoss, 2024). Waterwhelm’s solution reduces the electrical consumption for water re-use by up to 80%. Such significant reduction will positively impact not just sustainability goals, but also costs for industrial end-users.
There are currently 175 wastewater treatment works in the UK with anaerobic digestion, our research through the Water Discovery Challenge has shown that using waste heat (from these sites) and treated wastewater (final effluent), Waterwhelm’s solution is capable of replacing up to 210 million litres per day (MLD) across the sector in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
The roll-out of the technology will substantially benefit the UK water sector by addressing the following challenges:
- Energy consumption and CO2 footprint associated with producing and supplying water
- Availability and cost of water
- Climate change effects of droughts/water scarcity
- Increasing water demand from population growth
- Increasing water demand from industrial activities such hydrogen production, sustainable aviation fuel production and manufacturing
- Abstraction reductions targeted by environmental regulators
- 9% reduction in non-household (NHH) consumption by 2038
Upon successful completion of the pilot project at this major Northumbrian Water site, Waterwhelm will deploy the technology on industrial scale across many wastewater treatment and industrial sites to address these challenges.
